alan wrote:Part way through this book, which was recommended. So far I see nothing to like or respect about either the author or the subject. Tell me why I should keep reading. Anyone?

If you dont want to continue reading then don't.

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

Why do I need to give you an in depth analysis? I enjoyed the book. If your not then don't read it,

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

I read the book too long ago to be able to give you an in-depth analysis of it, and nor would I presume to say why you should keep reading it. What however led me to read the book to the end (despite the author being a projection-prone, delusional moron, not to mention a New Yorker) was that Ajahn Chah did actually strike me as rather admirable. In particular, in the way that he trained his monks Chah reminded me a little of how my favourite Roman Catholic saint used to go about the job. I mean St. Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians and the patron saint of laughter, humour and joy:

Humility was the most important virtue [St. Philip] tried to teach others and to learn himself. Some of his lessons in humility seem cruel, but they were tinged with humor like practical jokes and were related with gratitude by the people they helped. His lessons always seem to be tailored directly to what the person needed. One member who was later to become a cardinal was too serious and so Philip had him sing the Misere at a wedding breakfast. When one priest gave a beautiful sermon, Philip ordered him to give the same sermon six times in a row so people would think he only had one sermon.

Philip preferred spiritual mortification to physical mortification. When one man asked Philip if he could wear a hair-shirt, Philip gave him permission — if he wore the hair-shirt outside his cassock! The man obeyed and found humility in the jokes and name-calling he received.

There were unexpected benefits to his lessons in humility. Another member, Baronius, wanted to preach about nothing but hell and eternal punishment. Philip commanded him instead to speak about nothing but church history. For 27 years Baronius spoke to the Oratory about church history. At the end of that time he published his talks as a widely respected and universally praised books on ecclesiastical history.

Philip did not escape this spiritual mortification himself. As with others, his own humbling held humor. There are stories of him wearing ridiculous clothes or walking around with half his beard shaved off. The greater his reputation for holiness the sillier he wanted to seem. When some people came from Poland to see the great saint, they found him listening to another priest read to him from joke books.

I have not read it.but reviews on Amazon.UK all seem pretty solidly favourable - though they all admit it pulls no punches, tells it like it is - and one reviewer even comments that it serves 'the "soft" American right - life in a Monastery is far from an illuminating ride!

It all sounds like very hard work.

What is it about the book itself that actually turns you off, precisely?

You will not be punished FOR your 'emotions'; you will be punished BY your 'emotions'.

Pay attention, simplify, and (Meditation instruction in a nutshell) "Mind - the Gap." ‘Absit invidia verbo’ - may ill-will be absent from the word. And mindful of that, if I don't respond, this may be why....

You will not be punished FOR your 'emotions'; you will be punished BY your 'emotions'.

Pay attention, simplify, and (Meditation instruction in a nutshell) "Mind - the Gap." ‘Absit invidia verbo’ - may ill-will be absent from the word. And mindful of that, if I don't respond, this may be why....

This book is everywhere at the moment, for free at Ajahn Chah monasteries. There must have been a big reprint.I think I'm going to have to read it, with the description of the author as a Delusional Moron.

Then, saturated with joy, you will put an end to suffering and stress.SN 9.11

Not a moron, just a dope. So far, I've heard about how everyone loves the Ajahn, but see nothing to respect about him. Some seem to feel they need discipline, and a Father figure. Could it be that simple?

alan wrote:Not a moron, just a dope. So far, I've heard about how everyone loves the Ajahn, but see nothing to respect about him. Some seem to feel they need discipline, and a Father figure. Could it be that simple?

I think it's that indefinable "charisma" that some gurus and leaders have.Something about their physical presence...It can't be captured in writing, so any book will miss the glow of the charisma.

Then, saturated with joy, you will put an end to suffering and stress.SN 9.11

He was an example of some one who had committed himself to the practice of the teaching and discipline over an extended period of time. He had turned away from many of the values of our consumerist society which resonated. He was perceived as living example of what his students aspired to.

Ajahn Chah is quite rightly one of the most respected Bhikkhus of recent times.He has inspired many westerners to follow the Buddha's Teachings and many to ordain.Scroll down to read a short history of his life.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---